20 December 2012

Guest Post: 'Hobbit' Review by James Maguire

My next guest post comes from James Maguire (@maguirenumber6) of Manchester, England, who has kindly allowed me to share his review of 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.'

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Review of “The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”

by James Maguire

"We come to it at last. After years of legal
wrangles, directorial changes, concerns over a ground- breaking new format and
even the intervention of government of New Zealand, the wait is over. The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released to worldwide audiences, and I,
like countless others, was eager to return to our beloved Middle-earth and see
the well-known tale of a reluctant Hobbit, enthusiastic Dwarves and a greedy
and cunning Dragon brought to life.

Like
many other Tolkien fanatics, I always hoped that The Hobbit would one day be
filmed, certainly after the enormous success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
As the project progressed, many questions arose. What was first suggested as a
two film series (the second being the much-discussed “bridge” between the
events of The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring) became three, a trilogy
that would cover just the events of the book, with material being sourced from
the appendices of the LOTR books (which New Line Cinema still have the rights
to use) to expand on what is a much shorter book than the aforementioned
trilogy. Fans still had questions though: how much material was being used?
What of the presence of Galadriel, Saruman and Radagast, who did not appear in
the book? How loyal will Jackson, Walsh, Boyens et al stay to the source
material, considering the changes that were made to LOTR? “The right people are
in charge,” I said to myself. “They know how loved the book is, and will surely
give it as much care and attention as they did to the first trilogy.” After
waiting nearly a decade, I couldn’t wait to find out.

The film
opens in much the same way as The Fellowship of the Ring, with a flashback to
set the scene. We are introduced to the Dwarf kingdom of Erebor, built within
the Lonely Mountain, and the town of Dale which sits within the mountain’s
arms. The kingdom and the town are assailed and destroyed by the Dragon Smaug,
and what few Dwarves are not eaten, including Thorin Oakenshield (Richard
Armitage) are forced to flee into the wilderness. We only get tantalising
glimpses of the old wyrm in this sequence - a tail here, a clawed foot there,
but more than enough to whet the appetite for the films to come. For me, one of
the challenges of this trilogy is to get Smaug right; he is so central to this
story that he must become the definitive cinema dragon, the dragon by which all
others are judged. On the evidence we saw, he will be.

We cut from there to the familiar sight of Bag
End, and a certain Mr Bilbo Baggins Esq., who is writing the title of his
famous book, as Elijah Wood’s Frodo looks on. I thought it was a nice touch
that Frodo was involved. We see him carefree here, the Frodo that we only saw
for a short time in the Fellowship before a certain golden ring found its way
into his hands. This short scene leads into the familiar view of a younger
Bilbo sat outside smoking his pipe, when our favourite Wizard walks by,
threatening to involve him in an adventure. Said adventure comes right into his
very Hobbit hole the next day, much to the amusement of Ian McKellen’s Gandalf,
in the form of thirteen Dwarves, ranging from the threatening Dwalin, to the
eager to please Dori, to the painfully polite Ori and their leader, the proud Thorin,
grandson and heir of the King Under the Mountain. This is a brilliant scene,
where we even get treated to Dwarvish singing, and in which Martin Freeman
excels. Despite this, I would have liked it to be longer, to get a fuller
introduction to each dwarf, as we get in the book. Jackson himself said that
they only wanted Freeman to play Bilbo, and they got the casting spot-on. Bilbo
reluctantly agrees to join the Company and the adventure begins. It is a visual
treat. We are shown stunning vistas, glorious shots of the Misty Moutains and
the now-familiar Rivendell, as well as the cavernous and ramshackle
Goblin-town. The Shire as ever looks beautiful.

Much has been said about the various changes
made to this film from the book, and how they affect the film negatively, and I
must say I have to disagree. The addition of Galadriel and Saruman as well as
Elrond in Rivendell - a meeting of the White Council - reinforces the idea that
there is more going on in Middle-earth at that time than just the quest of
Erebor. The Watchful Peace has ended, evil is stirring again, and signs which
the Wise dreaded the most have been seen. Radagast, one of my favourite
characters in the film, encounters the Necromancer in the ruins of Dol Guldur.
Fans will know more about this character than I will reveal here, but I am
fascinated to know how much more we will see of this shadowy sorcerer in the
films to come.

Possibly the most controversial change from the
books (and the lore) is the presence of Azog, providing another villain
pursuing the Company in much the same way that Saruman’s Uruk-hai pursued the
Fellowship. While some fans will disagree with Jackson’s resurrection of the
so-called Pale Orc, I thought it was pretty clever, and gave Thorin a personal
adversary to contend with, adding an extra sub-plot to the film; Azog is
looking to finish the job he started in the Battle of Azanulbizar many years
earlier and kill off the line of Durin, while Thorin looks for revenge for his
fallen grandfather once he learns that Azog yet lives. The goblins’ tracking of
the dwarves vastly increases the danger of the journey, which works well in the
film and adds a sense of urgency. In the book, they seem to encounter no
trouble until they encounter the trolls around their camp fire, one of the
film’s most entertaining scenes.

The stand-out scene in this film is the famous
game of riddles between Bilbo and the iconic Gollum, brilliantly played once
again by Andy Serkis. The whole scene was gripping from start to finish, a real
pleasure to watch, and both actors shone. It is in Gollum’s cave, of course,
that a certain artifact of ages past is found. The Ring is pocketed almost
nonchalantly by Bilbo, and his accidental discovery of its ability aids his
escape from the Goblin tunnels, and will aid, as we all know, his efforts in
the two remaining films. Overall, I thought The Hobbit was spectacular. It did
not disappoint, despite all the talk of content changes and the new format,
which I thought made Middle-earth look better than ever. I couldn’t take my
eyes off it for a second, and I can’t wait to see it again."

3 comments:

Thank you for your review. I read the Hobbit and LOTR in the late '60's early '70's and then I read all things Tolkien that I could get my hands on. Middle-Earth touched a place in my heart and I have been waiting since for movies to do them justice. I was content with LOTR, especially the extended version. I have read some negative reviews about the Hobbit and was concerned by the hype. You have reassured me.

James, thanks for this review! There really are so many great things about this movie that I think they far outweigh the bad. It's one of the few films that I would have watched twice in a row. I keep thinking about the thrush and the snail and what great foreshadowing that is for The Desolation of Smaug. Most filmmakers never would have thought to put in something that subtle. Based on Smaug's eye alone (eerily resembling the Eye of Sauron, don't you think?) I'm guessing this Urulóki will be the baddest dragon in the history of film. I only wish they had toned down the violence so I could take my 8-year-old. I think there are just too many beheadings and Orc-eviscerations for someone his age. And a lot of the scenes that were obviously shot just for the 3D experience (Stone Giants, Goblin Cave chase, etc.) were totally unnecessary. It's such a beautiful movie, though, filled with humor ("Can you make it stop raining, Gandalf?") and amazing acting (the Gollum/Bilbo scene is a Tolkien-freak's dream). We should all be thankful that a bunch of Hollywood bozos didn't get their hands on this and cast Tom Cruise as Bilbo.

Went last night and am ready to go again. I would every day if I could. I had no preconceptions about the way P. Jackson would present things so it was all an unfolding. If I don't like something, no matter, the books are always there. It is amazing that we have these films in our lifetime, what luck! The cave Orcs were especially gruesome - with the sores on their bodies - yuck. Loved the Dwarves. I felt as if I could reach out and touch the film and actually ducked a time or two..! Spellbound and I miss the movie just thinking about it, like it is a long lost part of me. Ready for an adventure now, just like when I first read the books.